Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Life As(s) Usual

Just a quick note to let you all in on what's been going on the past few days and weeks since I returned from Boot Camp.

Already, it is easy to get the feeling that Boot Camp never happened. "What do you MEAN I met Orson Scott Card? What do you mean I did that camp thing I wanted to do and it's over now?" But the knowledge is still here. Parts of it have really stuck. My attitude on writing is different. My attitude on STORY is different. And I don't think that's going to revert just because I'm home and comfortable.

Well, almost comfortable.

It seems due to budget cuts and logistical junk that my hours at work have been vaporized. And I loved my job. Getting paid to walk around in the dark and think and listen to audio books? I even had time to write between patrols. Best job ever in some ways. But alas, all good things must come to an end. So here I beez. Looks like I can add job hunting to my To-Do List.

I've sketched out a schedule for Poof, my YA novel that's in the works. The schedule basically has me writing the novel in three months. Yikes. But that's 1000 words a day with weekends off. Should be easy breezy if I do my work in the outlining stage. I've slotted two months for that. And a month or two for downtime and test readings and final edits and pre-querying and such, once the novel itself is finished. It's a fairly loose schedule, one that I know I am capable of. But it also ends up with me and a completed book by April.

I've learned a lot since my last "novel attempt." One of the things I've learned is, writing a book is something that can be done quickly. I wrote a 12,000 word story is just a few hours at work over the course of about 2 weeks. That's over a sixth of this novel's length. DOABLE. If I bust me arse and focus. Also, I know now that a novel is not a once-in-a-lifetime achievement into which you have to squeeze every last observation you have ever had about the human experience. Tried to do that with Silas Crane. "Sweet! That's going in my book!" is a phrase that can quickly over-burden and kill your story. Trust me.

Beyond the novel stuff, I've got a story to write for a Codex halloween contest. And I need to shoot some stories out into the world for publication. I've only got one or two out there right now. For shame.

About Me

Steve grew up listening to his dad's ghost stories and never recovered. He attended Literary Boot Camp in 2009 and currently lives in Oklahoma in a small house full of girls. His stories have appeared in IGMS, Redstone, DSF, and others. His nonfiction blog posts have been featured by SFWA.